A Long Way toward Climate Smart Agriculture: The Importance of Addressing Gender Inequity in the Agricultural Sector of Guatemala

Clara Mosso (), Diego Pons and Cristian Beza-Beza
Additional contact information
Clara Mosso: Warner College of Natural Resources, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Diego Pons: College of Liberal Arts, Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Cristian Beza-Beza: Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: In the context of climate change’s detrimental effects on agricultural production and food security, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) strategies constitute a promising approach to reduce vulnerability and boost adaptation capacity and resilience within farmers. However, CSA strategies should address gender dynamics to reach their full potential. This study analyzed the barriers and opportunities for the implementation of gender-sensitive CSA strategies in rural Guatemala, a low-latitude country with a high gender gap index, through the perceptions of agricultural extensionists. For this purpose, we conducted an online survey among Guatemalan agricultural extensionists who attended a series of Climate Services for Agriculture workshops between May and July 2021 and analyzed the results using a qualitative approach. Results suggest that women in rural Guatemala are frequently excluded from climate information access, agricultural training, and decision-making spaces in which agricultural resource management strategies are defined. We argue that this exclusion represents a barrier to the improvement in adaptation capacity and resilience and that gender inequity should be addressed to implement successful gender-sensitive CSA approaches. Generating gender-sensitive indicators and training extensionists against gender bias could be a starting point, but further research is necessary to understand gender dynamics in rural Guatemala.

Keywords: climate change; Central America; women farmers; food security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/8/1268/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/8/1268/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:8:p:1268-:d:882533

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().